- unbelief
- unbelief, disbelief, incredulity are comparable when they mean the attitude or state of mind of one who does not believe.Unbelief stresses the lack or absence of belief especially in respect to something (as religious revelation) above and beyond one's personal experience or capacity{
a sense of loss and unbelief such as one might feel to discover suddenly that some great force in nature had ceased to operate— Wolfe
}{if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out. . . Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief— Mk 9:23-24
}Disbelief implies a positive rejection of what is stated or asserted{a disbelief m ghosts and witches was one of the most prominent characteristics of skepticism in the seventeenth century— Lecky
}{a disbeliever in aristocracy, he never perceived the implications of his disbelief where education was concerned— Russell
}{comprehension flooded Maria's mind, followed by a sort of stupefying disbelief— Hervey
}Incredulity implies indisposition to believe or, more often, a skeptical frame of mind{there is a vulgar incredulity, which . . . finds it easier to doubt than to examine— Scott
}{was looking interestedly around . . . when suddenly he started forward . . . and in an instant, his face seemed suddenly to go ashen with bitter incredulity— Terry Southern
}Analogous words: *uncertainty, doubt, dubiety, dubiosity, skepticismAntonyms: belief
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.